[comp.publish.cdrom] CD-Recordable FAQ, Part 4/4
From: fadden@netcom.com (Andy McFadden)
Newsgroups: comp.publish.cdrom.hardware,comp.publish.cdrom.software,comp.publish.cdrom.multimedia,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: [comp.publish.cdrom] CD-Recordable FAQ, Part 4/4
Supersedes: <3759c43d.0@news.spies.com>
Followup-To: comp.publish.cdrom.hardware
Date: 19 Jul 1999 04:26:55 GMT
Organization: Netcom
Message-ID: <7mu9ef$rv3@dfw-ixnews10.ix.netcom.com>
X-NETCOM-Date: Sun Jul 18 11:26:55 PM CDT 1999
Summary: Frequently Asked Questions about CD recorders, CD-R media, CD-RW,
and CD premastering.
Archive-name: cdrom/cd-recordable/part4
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: 1999/07/18
Version: 2.13
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Subject: [6] Software
(1998/05/16)
DOS, Win31, Win95, and WinNT all work well, though some recorders are
more difficult to configure for Win95 and WinNT than others.
Mac System 7.x works well, as should 8.x. UNIX variants (notably FreeBSD
and Linux) work, but there aren't as many people using them to create CD-Rs
as there are on other platforms.
If you're interested in burning CDs with long Win95 filenames, be sure to
get a software package that supports Joliet (see section (3-5-4)).
Otherwise all filenames get mashed down to 8+3.
EMedia Professional has an index of CD-R hardware and software versions,
with a different category featured each month. Take a look at
http://www.emediapro.net/AprEM/news4.html#index for an example.
Subject: [6-1] Which software should I use?
(1999/04/11)
Generally speaking, you get what you pay for; the more expensive software
has more features. However, this isn't always the case, and the software
with more features isn't necessarily more reliable.
There's little standardization among CD-R drive manufacturers, so not
all devices are supported by all programs.
If you're new to CD-R, on the PC start with Easy CD Creator 3 Deluxe. If
you just want to "back up" discs, or you want a lot of flexbility when
creating audio CDs, go with CDRWIN. On the Mac, go with Toast or (if
disc-at-once recording is important to you) Discribe. If you want to write
to a disc like a floppy, try DirectCD (listed with the packet writing
software in section (6-3)).
Amiga users should check out MasterISO (6-1-11), and UNIX users probably
ought to start with cdrecord (6-1-20) or GEAR (6-1-3).
Most of the software listed below is for PC running Windows. Use the
search feature of your newsreader or web browser to look for "Mac" or
"UNIX" if that's what you're interested in.
Subject: [6-1-1] Adaptec - Easy-CD, Easy-CD Pro, and Easy-CD Pro MM ("ECD")
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95, NT)
See http://www.adaptec.com/cdrec/
The software was developed by a company called Incat, which was purchased
by Adaptec in 1995.
Easy-CD Pro has been superseded by Adaptec's Easy CD Creator.
Easy-CD Pro 95 v1.2 seems to have trouble writing umlauts and other
non-ASCII characters in Joliet mode. Romeo format will work, but the files
will only be accessible from Win95 and WinNT.
Subject: [6-1-2] Adaptec - CD-Creator ("CDC")
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95, NT3.x)
See http://www.corel.com/
See http://www.corel.com/support/web/pages/downfile.htm [upgrades]
See http://www.adaptec.com/support/overview/cdc1n2.html
The software was developed by Corel, and published by them until it was
purchased by Adaptec in mid-1996.
CD Creator has been superseded by Adaptec's Easy CD Creator.
The package includes drivers that allow several popular CD-R drives to
be used as general-purpose CD readers under Win95. It can also create
VideoCD and PhotoCD discs.
Version 2.x is a considerable improvement over version 1.x. Versions
older than 2.01.079 had some problems inserting "knacks" into audio CDs.
Subject: [6-1-3] Gear Multimedia - GEAR
(1999/02/06)
Platforms supported: DOS, Windows (3.1, 95, NT), OS/2, UNIX, Mac
See http://www.gearcdr.com/
This was sold by Elektroson until early 1999.
This is bundled with some drives. Does not support Joliet (important for
long Win95 filenames).
Versions older than 4.0 should be upgraded. A number of bugs have been
fixed (e.g. one user found that v3.3 left clicks on audio CDs, another
was unable to use it with Adaptec EZ-SCSI v4.0d or later).
Subject: [6-1-4] Adaptec - Toast
(1999/03/04)
Platforms supported: Mac
See http://www.adaptec.com/cdrec/
The software was developed by Miles GmbH and published by Astarte until
Miles was purchased by Adaptec in early 1997.
This program is recommended for making Mac/PC hybrids, and is the most
popular package for the Mac. It supports HFS, ISO-9660, and Joliet, but
does not do disc-at-once recording. At one time it was sold by an OEM as
"CD-It All".
The "Toast DVD" upgrade enables creation of DVD-Video and DVD-ROM.
Software updates are available on the web site.
Subject: [6-1-5] CeQuadrat - WinOnCD
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows
See http://www.cequadrat.com/
WinOnCD is the full version. WinOnCD ToGo is a "lite" version that comes
bundled with some drives.
Can create VideoCD discs and bootable CD-ROMs. Has very fast virtual CD
creation.
Subject: [6-1-6] Young Minds, Inc. - SimpliCD
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows
See http://www.ymi.com/
See also "CD Studio" for UNIX and WinNT on the web site, and some
specialized solutions for things like recording over Novell networks and
working with CD-R jukeboxes.
Subject: [6-1-7] Golden Hawk Technology (Jeff Arnold) - CDRWIN
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: DOS, Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.goldenhawk.com/
See http://www.cd-brennen.de/ (german distributor)
(CDRWIN is the name of the Win95 version. I don't believe the DOS versions
have an official name.)
Contains sophisticated CD-ROM duplication programs, track-at-once and
disc-at-once utilities for sound and data, and other goodies. Some of the
DOS-based software is free, the rest is relatively inexpensive.
This comes highly recommended for creating audio CDs, because it gives you
a great deal of control over the creation process. Updates for the
software are available on the net.
The "vcache" tweak from section (4-1-2) is strongly recommended for users
of CDRWIN to avoid buffer underruns.
If you use a Yamaha 200/400 and get "Logical Unit Not Ready" errors, try
disabling the data caching.
A cue sheet editor is available in section (6-2-7).
Subject: [6-1-8] Optical Media International - QuickTOPiX CD
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95, NT), Mac
See http://www.microtest.com/html/optical_media.html
[ product has been discontinued ]
Subject: [6-1-9] Creative Digital Research - CDR Publisher
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95, NT), UNIX
See http://www.cdr1.com/ (a/k/a http://www.hycd.com/)
Can create Mac/PC/UNIX hybrid CDs (i.e. CDs that work on all three
platforms), as well as bootable CDs for PCs and UNIX. If you need a
CD that works (and looks good) on Win95, MacOS, and UNIX, this is the
program for you.
The Solaris version should be available through Sun's Catalyst program; see
http://www.sun.com/sunsoft/catlink/cdr/cdrpub.htm.
Subject: [6-1-10] mkisofs
(1998/05/16)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT), UNIX
Sources at ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/packages/mkisofs/mkisofs-1.11.tar.gz
This allows creation of a prototype ISO-9660 filesystem on disk or tape,
which can then be copied to a CDR. It supports the Rock Ridge extensions,
and can be configured to ignore certain facets of the ISO standard
(like maximum directory depth). Newer versions support multisession and
bootable discs.
This can be used in conjunction with "cdwrite" or "cdrecord" to write discs
under UNIX. For other platforms, chances are good that your favorite CD
recording application is able to write ISO-9660 images.
Poke around on http://www.channel1.com/users/rodsmith/rhjol.html for a link
to the Win32 executable.
See http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/CD-Writing-HOWTO for a
"HOWTO" guide on writing CDs under Linux.
See http://lidar.ssec.wisc.edu/~forrest/ for a copy of "cdwrite" patched
for use with SGI, and ftp://viz.tamu.edu/pub/sgi/hardware/cdrom/cd-writers
for the FAQ on SGI CD writing.
Early releases of the next version of mkisofs can create images with both
Joliet and Rock Ridge extensions.
Subject: [6-1-11] Asimware Innovations - MasterISO
(1999/04/11)
Platforms supported: Amiga
See http://www.asimware.com/ (demo available)
Full-featured CD-R mastering package for the Amiga.
Subject: [6-1-12] Newtech Infosystems, Inc. (NTI) - CD-Maker and CD-Copy
(1999/04/11)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.ntius.com/ (demo available)
CD creation and duplication software. Reportedly works very well on
otherwise difficult discs.
They also make "CDR Explorer", free CD-R creation software that works like
Win95 Explorer. It's available at their web site.
If you get "illegal request, invalid block address" complaints reading from
an ATAPI CD-ROM drive, you may need to change "BCD=0,0" to "BCD=1,1" in the
file cdmkr32.ini in your Windows directory. (One symptom is that the track
on the CD will show up considerably larger than it should.)
Subject: [6-1-13] Cirrus Technology/Unite - CDMaker
(1998/09/05)
Platforms supported: OS/2
See http://www.cirunite.com/ (demo available)
Drag-and-drop CD creation, written specifically for OS/2. Allows creation
of CDs with an HPFS (OS/2) filesystem.
[ product has been discontinued? ]
Subject: [6-1-14] Hohner Midia - Red Roaster
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows
See http://hohnermidia.com/proaudio.html
Windows-based CD-R software that has some nice features for creating
audio discs, including the ability to edit the P-Q subcode data.
The "rrdemo.zip" on the web site is actually a demo of Samplitude Master
from SEK´D Software. Samplitude Master is a fancy audio editing program
that - among other things - allows you to create ISO-9660 images suitable
for writing to a CD-R, but the demo package doesn't include software to do
the actual writing (the full package includes PoINT CDaudio).
Subject: [6-1-15] Dataware Technologies - CD Author
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: DOS
See http://www.dataware.com/site/prodserv/cd_rom.htm
See http://www.dataware.de/untern/index.html
CD creation software aimed at the corporate user. Comes with libraries
for creating custom applications.
Subject: [6-1-16] CreamWare - Triple DAT
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95)
See http://www.creamware.com/
A hardware and software combo for professional-quality sound editing, this
now includes an audio CD creation tool.
Subject: [6-1-17] MicroTech - MasterMaker
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: DOS
See http://www.microtech.com/product/mmaker/
Pre-mastering software that supports the Rock Ridge extensions. The free
demo creates ISO-9660 disc images.
Subject: [6-1-18] Angela Schmidt & Patrick Ohly - MakeCD
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Amiga
See http://makecd.core.de/
CD-R creation software that supports the "AS" extensions (which preserve
the Amiga protection bits and file comments).
You need AmiCDFS, CacheCDFS, AsimCDFS, or something similar
to make use of the "AS" extensions. AmiCDFS is available from
http://ftp.uni-paderborn.de/aminet/dirs/disk_cdrom.html. Look for
amicdfs*.lha, where '*' is a version number.
Subject: [6-1-19] Optical Media International - Audiotracer
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Mac
See http://www.microtest.com/html/optical_media.html
[ product has been discontinued ]
Subject: [6-1-20] Jörg Schilling - cdrecord
(1999/05/03)
Platforms supported: UNIX (several), Windows (95, NT), Mac, OS/2, BeOS, VMS
See http://www.fokus.gmd.de/research/cc/glone/employees/joerg.schilling/private/cdrecord.html
A collection of freeware software and drivers for burning CDs under an
impressive variety of operating systems. Source code is available. See
the web site for an up-to-date list of features and supported systems.
Works best in conjunction with mkisofs (which should be available from
the same site). X-CD-Roast may also come in handy; see section (6-1-40).
Supports DVD-R as well.
Subject: [6-1-21] Prassi Software - CD Rep and CD Right
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.prassi.com/
CD mastering bundled with SCSI Rep, which allows you to write to more than
one SCSI CD-R at once. See also section (3-17).
A review can be found at http://www.emediapro.net/awards/award8.html.
Subject: [6-1-22] Nero Software - SubIgnition
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95)
See http://www.home.aone.net.au/nero/ (free beta version available)
Full-featured audio CD creation.
Subject: [6-1-23] Dieter Baron and Armin Obersteiner - CD Tools
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Amiga
See http://www.giga.or.at/nih/cdtools.html
Free CD writing tools, with source code.
Subject: [6-1-24] PoINT - CDwrite
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95)
See http://www.pointsoft.de/
Full-featured CD recording.
Subject: [6-1-25] PoINT - CDaudio Plus
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95)
See http://www.pointsoft.de/
Creates audio CDs, with full control over P/Q subcodes.
Subject: [6-1-26] Adaptec - Easy CD Creator Deluxe ("ECDC")
(1998/12/20)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.adaptec.com/cdrec/
Adaptec's all-singing, all-dancing combination of Easy CD Pro and CD
Creator. Combines the best features of both and costs less, including
the ability to create PhotoCDs, VideoCDs, and jewel case inserts. Also
includes some new features, including an application called "Spin Doctor"
that helps convert from old LPs to CD.
The write buffer management is reported to be so robust that some testers
were able to defragment their hard drive while writing a CD.
ECDC up to v3.5a has a "two-second truncation" problem, where extracted
audio tracks end up missing two seconds. This doesn't happen for every
system or every disc, but is 100% reproducible in situations where it
arises. Version 3.01d fixed the problem for some users but not others.
See also http://www.adaptec.com/support/faqs/ecdc35adae.html.
One other note: CD Copier Deluxe does *not* do disc-at-once recording when
copying from disc-to-disc (the web site is right, the manual is wrong), but
ECDC itself does. If you want to make a disc-to-disc copy with
disc-at-once recording, you should set up ECDC to copy the disc without
buffering to the hard drive. ECDC will refuse to use DAO if your writer
doesn't support it reliably or the source drive is too slow.
Subject: [6-1-27] Padus - DiscJuggler
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.padus.com/ (demo available)
Allows you to write to more than one SCSI CD-R at a time. See also
section (3-17).
Subject: [6-1-28] Ahead Software - Nero
(1999/03/01)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95, NT)
See http://www.ahead.de/ (demo available)
Full-featured CD creation and duplication. Fairly popular among the
Internet community.
Supports the "variable-gap track-at-once" feature of drives like the Sony
926S and Mitsumi CR-2801TE when creating CDs (but not when copying them?).
Comes with "MultiMounter", which appears to be similar to Adaptec's
"Session Selector".
NOTE: Nero may not work correctly if DirectCD is installed. You may need
to uninstall DirectCD to get Nero to work.
Subject: [6-1-29] CharisMac Engineering - Discribe
(1999/02/26)
Platforms supported: Mac
See http://www.charismac.com/Products/Discribe/index.html
CD creation for the Mac. Supports creation of hybrid CDs and disc-at-once
recording. This is a popular alternative to Toast for the Mac.
Subject: [6-1-30] István Dósa - DFY$VMSCD
(1998/04/06)
Platform supported: VMS (VAX, Alpha)
See http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/CD-R/vms.html
Construct CD-ROMs under VMS.
Subject: [6-1-31] RSJ Software - RSJ CD Writer
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (95), OS/2
See http://www.rsj.de/us/default.htm
CD writing with support for ISO-9660, Joliet, and Rock Ridge extensions.
Subject: [6-1-32] James Pearson - mkhybrid
(1998/08/10)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT), UNIX
See http://www.ge.ucl.ac.uk/~jcpearso/mkhybrid.html
This is a mkisofs variant that creates discs in ISO-9660 format with
Joliet, Rock Ridge, and HFS extensions. HFS files can be encoded as an HFS
"hybrid" or using Apple's ISO-9660 extensions.
Subject: [6-1-33] JVC - Personal Archiver Plus
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95, NT), Mac
See http://www.jvcinfo.com/archiver.html
See http://www.jvc-victor.co.jp/english/cdr/cdrext-e.html
JVC's CD-R software, frequently bundled with JVC recorders.
Includes "CD-R Extensions" packet-writing software for Win31/Win95 (also
known as "FloppyCD"?).
Subject: [6-1-34] Adaptec - Jam
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Mac
See http://www.adaptec.com/cdrec/
An updated version of Astarte's "CD-DA" package, intended for creating
professional audio CDs.
Subject: [6-1-35] VOB - CD-Wizard
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (95)
See http://www.vob.de/
Standard recording software plus a fancy disc copier and some other
goodies. Claims to be able to copy a variety of discs, including some
copy-protected CD-ROMs.
Subject: [6-1-36] Sonic Foundry - CD Architect
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.sonicfoundry.com/
Fancy audio CD creation, including PQ editing and cross-fades.
Subject: [6-1-37] Eberhard Heuser-Hofmann - CDWRITE
(1998/05/10)
Platforms supported: VMS (VAX, Alpha)
See http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/9999/vmscdwri.html
Get ftp://v36.chemie.uni-konstanz.de/cdwrite/
Construct and write CD-ROMs from VMS.
Subject: [6-1-38] CeQuadrat - JustAudio!
(1998/06/14)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.cequadrat.com/product/jaud.html
Audio CD creation. Includes de-noise program for data digitized from
tapes or records, and a layout tool for creating booklets, inlay cards,
or labels.
Subject: [6-1-39] Digidesign - MasterList CD
(1998/08/16)
Platforms supported: Mac
See http://www.digidesign.com/prod/mlcd/
Full-featured audio CD creation.
Subject: [6-1-40] Thomas Niederreiter - X-CD-Roast
(1998/10/18)
Platforms supported: UNIX (Linux)
See http://www.fh-muenchen.de/home/ze/rz/services/projects/xcdroast/e_overview.html
This is a Tcl/Tk/Tix front-end for mkisofs and cdrecord.
Subject: [6-1-41] Jesper Pedersen - BurnIT
(1998/10/12)
Platforms supported: UNIX
See http://sunsite.auc.dk/BurnIT/
This is a Java front-end for cdrecord, mkisofs and cdda2wav.
Subject: [6-1-42] Jens Fangmeier - Feurio!
(1998/10/16)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.feurio.de/
Audio CD creation.
Subject: [6-1-43] Asimware Innovations - HotBurn
(1998/11/18)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.asimware.com/ (demo available)
Looks to be a solid data and audio recording program.
Subject: [6-1-44] DARTECH, Inc - DART CD-Recorder
(1998/11/18)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.dartpro.com/ (demo available)
Audio CD creation with wide support for both analog and digital sources.
Subject: [6-1-45] Interactive Information R&D - CDEveryWhere
(1999/02/07)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT), Mac, UNIX (Linux, Solaris)
See http://www.cdeverywhere.com/
This is a Java application that creates hybrid disc images with Rock Ridge,
Joliet, and HFS support. The image can be written with any application
that can handle ISO-9660 disc images.
Subject: [6-1-46] DnS Development - BurnIt
(1999/04/11)
Platforms supported: Amiga
See http://www.titancomputer.de/burnit/
Simple but powerful recording for the Amiga.
Subject: [6-1-47] Andreas Müller - CDRDAO
(1999/03/03)
Platforms supported: Linux
See http://www.ping.de/sites/daneb/cdrdao.html
Linux application that does disc-at-once audio recording. Source code
is available.
Subject: [6-1-48] Tracer Technologies - (various)
(1999/06/30)
Platforms supported: UNIX (several)
See http://www.tracertech.com/
Business-oriented CD-recordable applications, ranging from single user
CD recording to data migration and archiving with CD and DVD jukeboxes.
Subject: [6-2] What other useful software is there?
(1998/04/06)
Software related to CD-Rs that isn't a direct part of the premastering
process.
Subject: [6-2-1] Optical Media International - Disc-to-Disk
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95, NT), Mac
See http://www.microtest.com/html/optical_media.html
[ product has been discontinued ]
Subject: [6-2-2] Gilles Vollant - WinImage
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows
See http://www.winimage.com/
Among other things, this lets you list and extract the contents of an
ISO-9660 image.
Subject: [6-2-3] Asimware Innovations - AsimCDFS
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Amiga
See http://www.asimware.com/
Allows the Amiga to read High Sierra, Mac HFS, and ISO-9660 (including Rock
Ridge extensions).
Subject: [6-2-4] Steven Grimm - WorkMan
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: UNIX
See http://www.midwinter.com/ftp/WorkMan/
In addition to its primary role as an audio CD player for UNIX workstations,
version 1.4 (still in beta) allows SPARC/Solaris2.4+ workstations to extract
digital audio into ".au" files.
Subject: [6-2-5] Cyberdyne Software - CD Worx
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.b.shuttle.de/cyberdyne/cdworx.html
Full-featured extraction and manipulation of audio data from CDs.
Subject: [6-2-6] Paul Crowley CD-ROM Productions - CD-R Diagnostic
(1999/06/05)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.cdrom-prod.com/software.html
Claims to do a number of useful things, such as displaying the contents of
the TOC, listing the full volume label, analyzing the media, and recovering
data from "lost" sessions and hosed UDF discs.
Subject: [6-2-7] DC Software Design - CDRCue Cuesheet Editor
(1998/09/14)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.dcsoft.com/
Cue sheet editor for CDRWIN.
Subject: [6-2-8] Astarte - CD-Copy
(1999/02/06)
Platforms supported: Mac
See http://www.astarte.de/
Half of a CD copier. CD-Copy has a lot of features for reading CDs as
images, but is unable to write them (presumably you're supposed to use
Toast for that).
Subject: [6-2-9] Frank Wolf - CDR Media Code Identifier
(1999/03/04)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.gum.de/cdrid/
Attempts to identify the manufacturer of a CD-R disc. Can be useful for
identifying who made a particular disc.
Subject: [6-2-10] Logiciels & Services Duhem - MacImage
(1999/07/18)
Platforms supported: Windows
See http://www.macdisk.com/macimgen.htm
Allows you to create a virtual Mac HFS partition, manipulate files there,
and create a hybrid CD-ROM image.
Subject: [6-3] What is packet writing software?
(1998/05/10)
Packet writing is an alternative to writing entire tracks or discs. With
track-at-once recording there's a maximum of 99 tracks per disc, a minimum
track length of 300 blocks, and an additional 150 blocks of overhead for
run-in, run-out, pregap, and linking. Packet writing allows several writes
per track, with only 7 blocks of overhead per write (4 for run-in, 2 for
run-out, and 1 for link). Since it's possible to write packets that are
small enough to fit entirely in the CD recorder's buffer, the risk of buffer
underruns can be eliminated.
There are some problems with packet writing, mostly due to the inability of
older CD-ROM drives to deal with the gaps between packets. CD-ROM drives
can become confused if they read into the gap, a problem complicated by
read-ahead optimizations on some models.
There are two basic "philosophies" behind packet writing, fixed-size and
variable-size. With fixed-size packets, the CD recorder writes data
whenever it has a full packet. All packets in the same track must have the
same size. It's relatively easy for a CD-ROM drive to skip over the
inter-packet gaps if it knows where the gaps are ahead of time, but there's
a large installed base of CD-ROM drives that aren't that smart.
With variable-sized packets, the CD-ROM drive can't tell ahead of time where
the gaps are. The problem can be avoided by laying out the filesystem in
such a way that the drive never tries to read from the gaps. One approach
is to put the entire file into a single packet, but if the size of a file
exceeds the size of the CD recorder write buffer, the risk of buffer
underruns returns. An alternative is to write the file in several pieces,
but the Level 1 ISO-9660 filesystem supported by most operating systems
doesn't support this. Replacing the "redirector" (e.g. MSCDEX) with one
that supports Level 3 ISO-9660 solves the problem.
Files on packet-written discs are typically stored in a UDF filesystem.
When the session is closed -- necessary for the disc to be readable on
anything but a CD recorder -- some implementations will wrap an ISO-9660
filesystem around the disc to make the files accessible on systems without
a UDF reader. When DirectCD for Windows closes a disc in ISO-9660 format,
it uses Level 3 multi-extent files. Support for Level 3 ISO-9660 will
likely be added to future OSs, but for the time being it can be difficult
to share such discs between machines that aren't running Win95/NT.
DirectCD for Mac OS leaves the disc in UDF format, so reading the discs
requires a UDF driver. See section (6-4) for more information on UDF,
including a web site where free UDF drivers can be downloaded. (If you
have DirectCD, you don't need to download the drivers separately; you would
only need them if you didn't own packet-writing software and wanted to read
discs created by somebody who did.)
Writing to a CD-R with packets will be slower than writing with standard
premastering software. Since the expected application for packet writing
is "drive letter access" rather than creating an entire CD, this should not
be an issue for most people.
Audio CDs can't be written with packets.
Some CD recorders may only be able to write 99 packets, because the
recorder has to calibrate the laser power before writing, and there are
only 99 spaces for doing the test writes. Sony and Philips have recently
developed ways to work around the problem however, and will presumably
make them available to other manufacturers. For details about the problem,
see http://www.emediapro.net/JanEM/standard1.html.
Drives based on the Sony 920S/940S/960S, Philips CDD2000/CDD2600, JVC
XR-W2010, Ricoh MP-6200, and Yamaha CDR-400 mechanisms are capable of
packet recording. (This list is not comprehensive; there are others.)
A glossy overview of packet writing software can be found here:
http://www.emediapro.net/MayEM/starrett5.html
Details on Adaptec's software, as well as a good overview of the benefits
and limitations of packet writing and UDF, can be found at:
http://www.adaptec.com/products/faqs/directcd.html
For a highly technical - if somewhat dated - reference, see:
http://www.emediapro.net/cdrompro/0296CP/02osborn.html
Information on packet-writing software follows. It is in general a bad
idea to have more than one installed at the same time.
Subject: [6-3-1] Adaptec - DirectCD
(1999/04/11)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT), Mac
See http://www.adaptec.com/cdrec/
UDF-based packet writing software. Check the compatibility list on the web
site to see if it works with your CD recorder and your firmware revision
level.
DirectCD for Windows versions older than 1.01 conflicted with some
scanners. Be sure to check the Adaptec web site for the latest version.
Note that DirectCD for Windows 1.x and 2.x may not support the same set of
drives on all operating systems; for example, 2.0 only worked with drives
capable of using CD-RW media. If you're running WinNT, you need 2.x.
NOTE: There seems to be a great deal of misinformation about how to disable
DirectCD for Windows. There are two basic approaches: (1) run the
uninstall program, or (2) make changes to several entries in the Windows
reigstry. Some recipes have recommended changing one or two registry
entries, killing a task, removing it from the system configuration Start Up
list, or using a system configuration utility, but all these really do is
stop the DirectCD control interface from running. DirectCD itself is still
active, which you can verify by inserting an unfinalized packet-written
disc. Writing data to such a disc without the UI active can lead to data
corruption, because some of the safeguards are no longer working.
One other note about DirectCD for Windows: in some situations you may have
trouble reinstalling it. If so, try removing (or renaming) scsi1hlp.vxd.
Subject: [6-3-2] CeQuadrat - PacketCD
(1999/03/07)
Platforms supported: Windows
See http://www.cequadrat.com/
UDF-based packet writing software. Recent versions offer transparent
data compression, potentially increasing the disc capacity.
Subject: [6-3-3] SmartStorage - SmartCD for Recording
(1998/05/10)
Platforms supported: Windows (NT)
See http://www.smartstorage.com/page5.htm
Packet writing software intended for shared environments.
Subject: [6-3-4] Gutenberg Systems - FloppyCD
(1998/05/10)
Platforms supported: Windows (95)
See http://www.floppycd.com/
Originally released by JVC as "CD-R Extensions".
Does variable-sized packet writing that leaves you with an ISO-9660
Level 1 CD-ROM (constrast to the ISO-9660 Level 3 disc produced by some
other packet writing solutions). This should make it possible to read
the finalized CDs on operating systems other than Win95/NT.
Subject: [6-3-5] VOB - InstantWrite
(1998/09/11)
Platforms supported: Windows (95)
See http://www.vob.de/
Does UDF. Don't know what else.
Subject: [6-4] What's UDF?
(1998/12/17)
UDF is an acronym for the humbly-named "Universal Disk Format". It's a
specification for a filesystem intended for use on write-once and
rewritable media. It's currently being used for DVD and some of the
CD-R/CD-RW packet writing software (e.g. Adaptec DirectCD).
There have been three important releases of the specification:
- 1.02: first release; primarily useful for read-only media like DVD-ROM.
- 1.5: includes defect management, useful for CD-R and CD-RW.
- 2.0: approved, final document [being?] produced.
MacOS 8.1 and Win98 support UDF v1.02. To read UDF-format packet-written
CD-R and CD-RW discs, you need UDF v1.5 support. Adaptec has made free UDF
1.5 drivers available for Mac and Windows on their web site (check there
for a list of supported CD-ROM drives).
Download free UDF 1.5 drivers for MacOS and Win95/Win98/WinNT4 from
http://www.adaptec.com/products/overview/udfreaders.html.
The technical specification for the UDF filesystem can be found at
http://www2.osta.org/osta/html/ostatech.html#udf.
UDF is based on the ISO/IEC 13346 standard, now ECMA-167, which is
available from http://www.ecma.ch/stand/ecma-167.HTM.
Some information about ISO/IEC 13346 and ISO/IEC 13490 is at
http://www.mv.com/users/kaikow/.
For a technical discussion of packet writing with UDF, check out
http://www.emediapro.net/MayEM/mcmurdie5.html.
You can find Linux source code under development at
http://trylinux.com/projects/udf/.
Subject: [6-5] Do I want to do packet writing?
(1998/04/06)
It depends. If your primary interests are writing audio CDs, duplicating
CD-ROMs (for backups, right?), or creating CD-ROMs full of files that you
can give to others, packet writing won't help you much.
Discs written by programs like Adaptec DirectCD aren't usable in a CD-ROM
reader until they're finalized. Finalized discs are in ISO-9660 format,
but it's ISO-9660 Level 3, which not all operating systems can interpret
(Win95 and WinNT can, with appropriate "redirectors" installed).
On the other hand, if you want to be able to add small amounts of data over
time, it may be extremely useful. You can read the unfinalized discs on
your system, so the data isn't inaccessible; it just can't be accessed on
other systems that aren't also set up to do packet writing. You can
overwrite files on CD-R media (the old data is still there, but the newer
directory entry points to the new file), something that was very costly
with multisession writes. And, of course, the risk of a buffer underrun
is almost nonexistent.
As with CD-RW, it doesn't hurt to buy a recorder that supports it, but
you're probably not missing much if you have one without it.
Subject: [6-6] I want to write my own CD recording software
(1999/02/14)
Source code and ready-to-link libraries are available, but the more useful
products tend to be more expensive. The library authors are usually CD-R
software publishers themselves, and aren't about to put themselves out of
business. Expect to sign a strict licensing agreement, if they agree to
do business at all.
Source code for some of the packages (notably Joerg Schilling's "CD Record"
and "CD Tools" by Dieter Baron and Armin Obersteiner) is available. See
sections (6-1-20) and (6-1-23). You can get ASPI developer documentation
and SDKs from http://www.adaptec.com/adaptec/developers/.
Subject: [6-6-1] PoINT - CDarchive SDK
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows, OS/2
See http://www.pointsoft.de/earchiv.html
API and SCSI device drivers.
Subject: [6-6-2] Golden Hawk Technology (Jeff Arnold)
(1998/06/22)
Platforms supported: PC
See http://www.goldenhawk.com/
C++ class libraries. See the web site for licensing information.
Subject: [6-6-3] Gear Multimedia - GEAR.wrks
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95, NT)
See http://www.gearcdr.com/
16-bit and 32-bit APIs for CD-R/CD-RW, tape drives, and SCSI hard disks.
DVD support is planned.
Subject: [6-6-4] VOB - CD-Wizard SDK
(1998/04/06)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.vob.de/us/Products/WizardSDK.htm
ActiveX interface to CD writing functions. [ Not yet available? ]
Subject: [6-7] What software is available for doing backups?
(1999/06/15)
See section (3-20) for commentary. Remember, if you're backing up less
than 650MB of data and don't need fancy features like incremental backups,
you don't *need* special backup software. Just write the files to a CD-R
and put it in a safe place.
Veritas Backup Exec is probably a good place to start looking.
Subject: [6-7-1] Adaptec - Easy-CD Backup
(1998/06/14)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95)
See http://www.adaptec.com/cdrec/
Backup software designed to store data on CD-Rs. Allows incremental
backups via multi-session writes, but backups aren't allowed to span
multiple volumes. Doesn't support long filenames.
[ no longer available ]
Subject: [6-7-2] D.J. Murdoch - DOSLFNBK
(1998/06/14)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www8.pair.com/dmurdoch/programs/doslfnbk.htm
Saves the long filenames, so that you can use backup software that only
knows about short "8.3" filenames. This is an alternative to the LFNBK
program that comes with Win95.
Old versions are free, new versions are inexpensive.
Subject: [6-7-3] Dantz - Retrospect
(1998/05/19)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT), Mac
See http://www.dantz.com/
Dantz's Retrospect 4.0 can make use of CD-R and CD-RW by using packet
writing. The backup server currently only runs on the Mac, but an NT
product is under development.
Subject: [6-7-4] Veritas - Backup Exec
(1999/07/12)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.veritas.com/products/
This was originally developed by Seagate Software. The Seagate Network and
Storage Management Group was sold to Veritas in June 1999.
This comes bundled with some recorders. A list of compatible devices can be
found at http://tech.seagatesoftware.com/dsl/devicedt_ddProduct_BEWRKNT.htm.
The consumer "Backup Exec Desktop 98" version works with Win95 and Win98.
Separate versions are available for WinNT Workstation and WinNT Server.
Subject: [6-7-5] Ghost Software - Ghost
(1998/05/19)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT), OS/2
See http://www.ghostsoft.com/
Ghost is intended as a way to create boilerplate software installations and
distribute them. It also works rather well as a way of backing up an
entire disk partition. A "ghosted" image file can be written to a CD-R.
Subject: [6-7-6] PowerQuest - Drive Image Special Edition for CD-R
(1998/12/20)
Platforms supported: Windows (via DOS)
See http://www.powerquest.com/ [ no CD-R product info available yet? ]
Drive Image 2.0 creates a compressed hard drive image file that allows you
to backup and recover your hard drive. It runs as a DOS application to
prevent Windows from messing with the disk while you're copying it.
The Special Edition for CD-R allows the disk image to span multiple CD-R
discs, providing an effective way to back up or archive an entire hard
drive onto CD-R. The CD-Rs created are bootable, and (if your PC supports
it) you can restore your system by booting the disc.
Subject: [6-7-7] Centered Systems - Second Copy
(1999/03/07)
Platforms supported: Windows (3.1, 95, NT)
See http://www.centered.com/ (shareware)
Second Copy maintains a duplicate of your files on a different system
or removable media. It runs in the background and constantly updates
the backup. Useful for maintaining an archive of a few files; not
meant for full-system backups.
Subject: [6-7-8] FileWare - FileSync
(1999/03/07)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.fileware.co.uk/products.htm (shareware)
Similar to Second Copy, but with a different feature set.
Subject: [6-7-9] Novastor - NovaDISK
(1999/06/05)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.novastor.com/backup/datasheets/cdrw.html
Backup software that is "CD-R aware". Requires drive-letter access to
the drive, which has to be provided by another program (e.g. DirectCD).
Subject: [6-7-10] Adaptec - Take Two
(1999/06/05)
Platforms supported: Windows (95, NT)
See http://www.adaptec.com/cdrec/
Image-based backup software. Currently only available to OEMs.
Subject: [6-7-11] NTI - Backup NOW!
(1999/07/12)
Platforms supported:
See http://www.ntius.com/products.htm
Full backup software for CD-R/CD-RW. Includes data compression and
automatically spans multiple discs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [7] Media
(1998/04/06)
This section covers recordable CD media.
Subject: [7-1] What kinds of media are there?
(1998/09/16)
The basic building blocks of CD-R media are cyanine dye, which is cyan blue
in color, and phthalocyanine dye, which is more or less colorless. The
reflective layer is either a silvery alloy, the exact composition of which
is proprietary, or 24K gold.
There are gold/gold, green/gold, silver/blue, and silver/silver CD-Rs. The
apparent color is determined by the color of the reflective layer (gold or
silver) and the color of the dye (cyan or colorless). For example,
green/gold discs combine a gold reflective layer with a cyan-colored dye,
resulting in a gold appearance on the label side and a green appearance on
the writing side.
Many people have jumped to the conclusion that "silver" discs are made of
silver, and have attempted to speculate on the relative reflectivity and
lifespan of the media based on that assumption. Until an industry
representative issues a statement concerning the actual composition, it
would be unwise to assume that the reflective layer has any specific
formulation.
Taiyo Yuden produced the original gold/green CDs, which were used during
the development of CD-R standards. Mitsui Toatsu Chemicals invented the
process for gold/gold CDs. Silver/blue CD-Rs, manufactured with a process
patented by Verbatim, first became widely available in 1996. According to
the Ricoh web site, the silver/silver "Platinum" discs, based on "advanced
phthalocyanine dye", were introduced by them in 1997. They didn't really
appear on the market until mid-1998 though.
See section (7-3) for vague details on who manufactures what.
The reason why there are multiple formulations is that the materials and
process for each are patented. If a new vendor wants to get into the CD-R
market, they have to come up with a new combination of materials that
conforms to the Orange Book specifications.
Some CDs have an extra coating (e.g. Kodak's "Infoguard") that makes the CD
more scratch-resistant, but doesn't affect the way information is stored.
The top (label) side of the CD is the part to be most concerned about,
since that's where the data lives, and it's easy to damage on a CD-R.
Applying a full circular CD label will help prevent scratches.
http://www.mitsuigold.com/ has some info on MTC media. You can visit
http://www.ricohcorp.com/press/platinum2.htm for a press release concerning
Ricoh's "platinum" media.
An EMedia Professional article discussing the composition of the newer
discs is online at http://www.emediapro.net/EM1998/starrett10.html.
CD-RW discs have an entirely different composition. The data side
(opposite the label side) is a dark silvery gray that is difficult to
describe.
Subject: [7-2] Does the media matter?
(1998/04/06)
Yes. There are four factors to consider:
(1) Does it work with your recorder?
(2) Which CD readers can use it?
(3) How long does it last before it starts to decay?
(4) What's the typical BLER (BLock Error Rate) for the media?
Some audio CD players (like the ones you'd find in a car stereo) have
worked successfully with one brand of gold media but not another. Some
players fail completely with green, some fail completely with gold, some
only work with blue.
Some people have found brand X CD-R units work well with media type Y,
while other people with the same unit have had different results.
Recording a disc at 4x may make it unreadable on some drives, even though
a disc recorded at 2x on the same drive works fine.
To top it all off, someone observed that discs burned with one brand of
CD-R weren't readable in cheap CD-ROM drives, even though the same kind
of media burned in a different device worked fine. The performance of
any piece of media is always a combination of the disc, the drive that
recorded it, and the drive that reads it.
A number of specific discoveries have been posted to Usenet, but none of
them are conclusive. Many people have reported that Kenwood CD players
don't deal with CD-Rs very well, while Alpine units play nearly
everything.
Some users have found that the *quality* of audio recordings can vary
depending on the media. Whatever the case, if you find that CD-Rs don't
sound as good as the originals, it's worthwhile to try a different kind of
media or a different player. See section (4-18) for other ideas.
One final comment: while there are clearly defined standards for CD-R
media, there are no such standards for CD and CD-ROM drives -- other than
that they be able to read CDs. It is possible for media to be within
allowed tolerances, but be unreadable by a CD-ROM drive that can handle
pressed discs without trouble. All you can do in this sort of situation is
find a better-quality CD or CD-ROM drive, or switch to a brand of media
whose characteristics are on the other side of the tolerance zone.
Subject: [7-3] Who manufactures CD-R media?
(1999/03/04)
Taiyo Yuden made the first "green" CDs. They are now manufactured by TDK,
Ricoh, Kodak, and probably several others as well.
Mitsui Toatsu Chemicals (MTC) made the first "gold" CDs. They are now
manufactured by Kodak and possibly others as well.
Verbatim made the first "silver/blue" CDs.
Most CD-R brands (e.g. Yamaha and Sony) are OEMed from one of the major
manufacturers. Attempting to keep track of who makes what is a difficult
proposition at best, since new manufacturing plants are being built, and
resellers can switch vendors. A CD-R media identification application,
listed in section (6-2-9), may be useful here. (The same feature is
provided by some CD recording applications, such as Feurio and cdrecord.)
A list of manufacturers codes is available at the OSJ (Orange Book Study
group Japan), http://www.sony.co.jp/TechnoGarage/CD-R/index.html. The web
page explains how data in the "Lead-in Start Time in ATIP" is used to
identify the manufacturer.
Subject: [7-4] Which kind of media should I use?
(1999/07/18)
There is no "best" media for all recorders. You can't tell how well a disc
will work just by looking at it; the only way to know is to put it in
*your* recorder, write a disc, then put it in *your* reader and try it.
Statements to the effect that "dark green" is better than "light green" are
absurd.
It may be a good idea to start by selecting media that is certified for
your recorder's desired write speed. This is particularly important for
CD-RW discs, which won't be written faster than the disc is rated for,
regardless of the top speed of the drive. Using 8x-certified CD-R media
when recording at 8x isn't a bad idea, but doesn't seem to be essential.
The Orange Book standard was written based on the original "green" discs
from Taiyo Yuden. "Green" media is more forgiving of marginal read/write
power variations than "gold", making them easier to read on some drives.
TDK's media has been a popular choice for some time.
"Gold" media manufacturers claim it has a longer lifespan and will work
better in higher speed recording than "green" discs. Mitsui's gold/gold
discs are recommended by some vendors, and in some informal and
unscientific tests were more compatible with car CD players than Kodak gold
or TDK green discs. The response to Mitsui's "platinum" media has also
been favorable. Different test labs will tell you different things.
See http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/History/Commentary/Parker/stcroix.html for
some notes on low-level differences between media types.
There is no advantage to using expensive "audio CD-Rs". There is no
difference in quality between consumer audio blanks and standard blanks
from a given manufacturer. If you have a consumer audio CD recorder, you
simply have no other choice.
Trying samples of blanks is strongly recommended before you make a major
purchase. Remember to try them in your reader as well as your writer; they
may not be so useful if you can't read them in your normal CD-ROM drive.
Maxell's CD-R media earned a miserable reputation on Usenet. In April
'97 Maxell announced reformulated media that seems to work better than
the previous ones. They have a web site at http://www.maxell.com/cdr/.
Some good technical information is available from http://www.mscience.com/.
BLER measurements for a variety of recorders and media is in a big table
on http://www.digido.com/chart.html.
See also "Is There a CD-R Media Problem?" by Katherine Cochrane, originally
published in the Feb '96 issue of CD-ROM Professional.
Subject: [7-5] How long do CD-Rs last?
(1998/10/16)
The manufacturers claim 75 years (cyanine dye, used in "green" discs), 100
years (phthalocyanine dye, used in "gold" discs), or even 200 years
("advanced" phthalocyanine dye, used in "platinum" discs) once the disc has
been written. The shelf life of an unrecorded disc has been estimated at
between 5 and 10 years. There is no standard agreed-upon way to test discs
for lifetime viability. Accelerated aging tests have been done, but they
may not provide a meaningful analogue to real-world aging.
Exposing the disc to excessive heat, humidity, or to direct sunlight will
greatly reduce the lifetime. In general, CD-Rs are far less tolerant of
environmental conditions than pressed CDs, and should be treated with
greater care. The easiest way to make a CD-R unusable is to scratch the
top surface. Find a CD-R you don't want anymore, and try to scratch the
top (label side) with your fingernail, a ballpoint pen, a paper clip, and
anything else you have handy. The results may surprise you.
Keep them in a cool, dark, dry place, and they will probably live longer
than you do (emphasis on "probably"). Some newsgroup reports have
complained of discs becoming unreadable in as little as three years, but
without knowing how the discs were handled and stored such anecdotes are
useless. Try to keep a little perspective on the situation: a disc that
degrades very little over 100 years is useless if it can't be read in your
CD-ROM drive today.
By some estimates, pressed CD-ROMs may only last for 10 to 25 years,
because the aluminum reflective layer starts to corrode after a while.
One user was told by Blaupunkt that CD-R discs shouldn't be left in car CD
players, because if it gets too hot in the car the CD-R will emit a gas
that can blind the laser optics. However, CD-Rs are constructed much the
same way and with mostly the same materials as pressed CDs, and the
temperatures required to cause such an emission from the materials that are
exposed would melt much of the car's interior. The dye layer is sealed
into the disc, and should not present any danger to drive optics even if
overheated. Even so, leaving a CD-R in a hot car isn't good for for the
disc, and will probably shorten its effective life.
See also http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/CD-R/Media/Longevity.html,
especially http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Industry/news/media-chronology.html
about some inaccurate reporting in the news media.
http://www.cdpage.com/dstuff/BobDana296.html has a very readable
description of CD-R media error testing that leaves you with a numb sense
of amazement that CD-Rs work at all. It also explains the errors that come
out of MSCDEX and what the dreaded E32 error means to a CD stamper. Highly
recommended.
Subject: [7-6] How much data can they hold? 650MB? 680MB?
(1999/02/19)
There are 21-minute (80mm/3-inch), 63-minute, 74-minute, and 80-minute
CD-Rs. These translate into data storage capacities of 184MB, 553MB,
650MB, and 700MB respectively (note these numbers are approximate). See
section (7-14) for more about 80mm CD-Rs, and section (3-8-1) for some
notes on 80-minute blanks.
Typical 74-minute CD-Rs are advertised as holding 650MB, 680MB, or even
700MB of data. The reality is that they're all about the same size, and
while you may get as much as an extra minute or two depending on the exact
construction, you're not usually going to get an extra 30MB out of a disc
labeled as 74-minute media. See section (3-8-2) for information on writing
beyond a disc's stated capacity.
Folks interested in "doing the math" should note that only 2048 bytes of
each 2352-byte sector is used for data on typical (Mode 1) discs. The rest
is used for error correction and other miscellaneous fields. This is why
you can only put 650MB of data on a disc that will hold 740MB of audio.
It should also be noted that hard drive manufacturers don't measure
megabytes in the same way that CD-R and RAM manufacturers do. The "MB" for
CD-Rs and RAM means 1024x1024, but for hard drives it means 1000x1000.
Keep this in mind when purchasing a hard drive that needs to hold an entire
CD. A data CD that can hold 650 "RAM" MB of data holds about 682 "disk" MB
of data, which is why many CD-Rs are labeled as having a 680MB capacity.
(The notion of "unformatted capacity" is a nonsensical myth.)
The NIST is considering the use of different names for powers of 2, which
would avoid this ambiguity and disappoint lots of marketing folks. See
http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html.
Some programs, such as Easy-CD Pro 95, will tell you the exact number of
2K blocks available on the CD. (With Easy-CD, put a blank disc in the
CD-R and go to the "Disc Info / Tools" menu item.) It's difficult to
draw conclusions from the results though. An article in the June issue
of _EMedia Professional_ found that not only does disc capacity vary from
brand to brand and batch to batch, it may even vary depending on which
model of recorder is used to examine the disc.
An informal survey conducted by one user found that the deviation between
the largest and smallest CD-R was about 3500 blocks (47 seconds, or 7MB),
which while not inconsequential is nowhere near the difference between
650MB and the 680MB or 700MB figures quoted by some manufacturers. All
discs had at least 333,000 blocks, as required by the Red Book
specification. (Before you ask which discs held the most data so you can
run out and buy them, I should mention that the person doing the survey had
trouble mounting some of the higher-capacity discs. Getting those few
extra seconds may cost you in other ways.)
http://cdr.mypage.org/ has a fairly complete listing of how much data
different brands of media will actually hold, as does
http://resource.simplenet.com/files/compare.htm. (Again, bear in mind that
different batches of the same media may have different capacities.)
The PCA (Program Calibration Area), PMA (Program Memory Area), TOC (Table
of Contents), lead-in, and lead-out areas don't count against the 74-minute
rating on single-session CDs. You really do get all the storage that the
disc is rated for. On standard MODE 1 discs that aren't using packet
writing, there is no "formatting overhead". Bear in mind, however, that
the "cluster" size is 2K, and that the ISO-9660 filesystem may use more or
less space than an MS-DOS FAT or HFS filesystem, so 650MB of files on a
hard disk may occupy a different amount of space on a CD.
On a multisession disc, you lose about 23MB of space when the first session
is closed, and about 14MB for each subsequent session. A common mistake
when writing multisession CDs is to overestimate the amount of space that
will be available for future sessions, so be sure to take this into
account.
Pressed aluminum CDs are also supposed to hold no more than 74 minutes of
audio, but are often tweaked to hold more (see section (3-8)). This can
make life interesting when attempting to copy CDs. BTW, to convert blocks
to seconds, divide the number of blocks by 75. If your blanks have 333,000
blocks, they have 4440 seconds, which is exactly 74 minutes.
Some packet-writing solutions will take a large bite out of your available
disc space. For example, if you use Adaptec DirectCD 2.x with CD-RW media,
it uses fixed-length packets. This allows random file erase, which means
that when you delete a file you actually get the space back, but you're
reduced to about 493MB after formatting the disc.
Subject: [7-7] Is it okay to write on or stick a label on a disc?
(1999/06/05)
Only if you're careful. The adhesives on some labels can dissolve the
protective lacquer coating if the adhesive is based on a solvent that the
lacquer is susceptible to. Asymmetric labels can throw the disc out of
balance, causing read problems, and labels not designed for CDs might
bubble or peel off when subjected to long periods of heat inside a CD
drive. Similarly, the ink in some kinds of pens may damage the top coating
of the disc.
Specific information can sometimes be found on the back of the jewel case
that the discs come in. Old TDK CDR-74 discs had the following warning:
"[...]
2. Do not attach labels or protective sheets, or apply any coating
fluids to the disc.
3. When writing titles and other information on the label (gold)
side of the disc, these should be written in the printed area using
an oil-based felt-tipped pen.
[...]"
Other brands say "use a permanent felt-tipped pen" or words to the effect
that the ink shouldn't smudge. The most important part is to use a felt
tip pen and not a ball-point, because the top layer can be delicate.
There are pens recommended specifically for writing on CD-Rs. Examples
include the Dixon Ticonderoga "Redi Sharp Plus", the Sanford "Powermark",
TDK "CD Writer", and Smart and Friendly "CD Speed Marker". Some of these
are relabeled Staedtler Lumocolor transparency markers, which are
water-based. Never use a solvent-based pen on a CD-R.
Many people have had no problems with the popular Sanford "Sharpie" pens,
which are alcohol-based. Other people say they've damaged discs by writing
on them with a Sharpie. In any event, the Ultra Fine pen looks almost
sharp enough to scratch, so sticking with the Fine Point pen is
recommended.
So long as you use the right kind of pen, it's okay to write directly on
the top surface of the CD, label or no. If the prospect makes you nervous,
just write in the clear plastic area near the hub, or only use discs with
a printable top surface.
Whatever you do, don't try to peel a label off once it's on. You will
almost certainly pull part of the recording layer off with the label. If
you're going to label a disc, do it immediately, so you can make another
copy if the label doesn't adhere smoothly. Any air bubbles in the label
that can't be smoothed out immediately are going to cause trouble.
Only use labels made specifically for recordable CDs. ProSource Sales &
Marketing, Inc. (http://www.inter-look.com/prosource/) sells labels and an
applicator that are reputed to work well. See also http://www.neato.com/
for information on the NEATO CD-Label kit (complete with animated
illustrations), and http://www.labelcd.com/ for the CD Stomper Pro. If you
speak Italian, try http://www.ufocd.com/. Information on The Gizmo is
available from http://www.greatgizmos.com/.
Buy some labels, put them on some discs, leave them someplace warm, and
see if they peel off. If they do, you'll need a different kind of media
or a different kind of label. Some labels don't adhere very well unless
they're attached to a disc with a plain lacquer surface on top.
You can also buy printers that will write directly onto discs with a
printable surface. One example is http://www.fargo.com/.
A wealth of information on CD-R labeling options can be found here:
http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/CD-R/Labeling/
Sony's http://www.sonydadc.com/ web site has a "Downloads & Templates"
section with artwork that my prove useful.
Mike Richter's CD-R primer has a very nice page on labeling discs. See
http://resource.simplenet.com/primer/labels.htm.
It is important to keep the CD balanced, or high-speed drives may have
trouble reading the disc. According to one report, a disc that had a
silk-screened image on the left side of a CD-R (leaving the right half of
the disc blank) was unreadable on high-speed drives due to excessive
wobbling. Most label kits come with a label-centering device, usually
something trivial like a stick that's the same width as the hole in the
middle of the CD.
Avery's CD-R labels became quietly unavailable in October 1997. The rumor
is that the adhesive caused data corruption problems, so Avery recalled
them. There are indications that the adhesive would fail on some discs and
start to lift off within a short period of time. If you have Avery labels
(#5824) purchased before this date, you should avoid using them. The
labels being produced now don't have this problem.
Subject: [7-8] How do CD-Rs behave when microwaved?
(1999/05/19)
Disclaimer: I'm not recommending you put a CD into a microwave. CDs may
contain metals that will cause your microwave to arc, destroying the
microwave emitter (see cautions about metal objects in the manual for your
microwave). Don't try this at home. Better yet, don't try this at all.
The basic process is, take a disc that you don't want anymore, and put it
shiny-side-up on something like a mug of water so it's nowhere near the
top, bottom, or sides of the microwave. (Actually, you may want to leave
it right-side-up if the disc doesn't have a label, because the foil is
closest to the top of the CD.) I'm told it is important to put something
in the cup to be on the safe side. Try to center it in the microwave.
Turn off the lights. Program the microwave for a 3-second burst on "high",
and watch the fireworks.
Performing this operation on replicated CDs results in blue sparks that
dance along the CD, leaving fractal-ish patterns etched into the reflective
aluminum. For those of you not with the program, this also renders the CD
unreadable.
Trying this with a green/gold CD-R gives you a similar light show, but the
destruction patterns are different. While pressed CDs and CD-RWs don't
develop consistent patterns of destruction, CD-Rs tend to form circular
patterns, possibly because of the pre-formed spiral groove.
On a different note, CD-Rs seem to smell worse, or at least they start to
smell earlier, then replicated CDs. The materials used are non-toxic
("cyanine" comes from the color cyan, not from cyanide), but breathing the
fumes is something best avoided.
For the curious, here's a note about why they behave like they do:
"The aluminum layer in a CD-ROM is very thin. The microwave oven induces
large currents in the aluminum. This makes enough heat to vaporize the
aluminum. You then see a very small lightning storm as electric arcs go
through the vaporized aluminum. Within a few seconds there will be many
paths etched through the aluminum, leaving behind little metalic islands.
Some of the islands will be shaped so that they make very good microwave
antennas. These spots will focus the microwave energy, and get very hot.
Now you will see just a few bright spots spewing a lot of smoke. The good
part of the light show is over, turn off the oven.
I suspect that if you leave the oven going much longer, the CD-ROM will
burst into flame. This will smell very bad and may do bad things to your
oven and house. Don't do it."
-- Paul Haas (paulh@hamjudo.com), on http://hamjudo.com/notes/cdrom.html
Dreamcast GD-R discs come out just like CD-R, but DVD-R is a whole
different experience.
Subject: [7-9] What can I do with CD-R discs that failed during writing?
(1998/12/20)
If the disc wasn't closed, you can write more data in a new session. If
the disc was closed, or was nearly full when the write failed but is still
missing important data, then its use as digital media is over.
However, that doesn't mean it's useless. Here are a few ideas:
- Fill in the center hole to avoid leaks, and use them as drink coasters.
- Create a hanging ornament or wind chime. The latter isn't all that
interesting - they just sort of "clack" a little - unless you use
the discs to catch the wind and something else to make the chimes.
- Use them as mini-frisbees in an office with cubes. Since they're rather
solid and may hurt when they hit, you should await a formal declaration
of intra-office war before opening up with these.
- Have CD bowling tournaments where you see how far you can roll one down
a narrow hallway. You'd be surprised at how hard it can be unless you
get the wrist motion just right.
- Put them under a table or chair whose legs don't quite sit right.
- Run them through one of those industrial-strength paper shredders (the
kind with the rapidly spinning wheels) to get shiny green or gold
confetti.
- Make really, really big earrings.
- Try to convince people at the beach that it's a shell from a new species
of abalone.
- Hook them into your bicycle spokes as reflectors.
- Use them as wheels on a toy car. (If you had buggy firmware, you're
probably stocked for a toy 18-wheeler.)
- Build a suit of "CD-R chain mail" for laser-tag games.
- Use them as art-deco floor or ceiling tiles.
- Hang them from the rear view mirror in your car.
- Cut it into a jigsaw puzzle with a small wire saw.
- Try out the "helpful CD repair" suggestions that periodically crop on
the newsgroup. Like the ones that suggest using acetone and sandpaper
to refinish a scratched CD-R.
- Hang them in your car windows. Some people believe that CDs will defeat
speed guns and automated speed traps that use flash photography.
- Add them to your aquarium.
- Use them as dart boards or BB-gun targets. If you "miss" the hole in
the middle, the error is immediately obvious.
- String several together as a toy. Alternate green and gold for visually
pleasing results.
- Make a boomerang (http://www.etud.insa-tlse.fr/~aamiel/boom/cd.html).
If you've given up hope of doing something "useful" with it, do something
destructive with it. Try to scrape the reflective layer off the top with
your fingernail. Drop it on the ground so that it hits edge-on and see if
the reflective layer delaminates or the plastic chips. Try to snap it in
half. Leave it sitting on a window sill with half the disc covered by a
book to see the effects of heat and sunlight. Write on it with nasty
permanent markers and see if you can still read it a week later. Different
brands of media have different levels of tolerance to abuse, and it's
useful to understand just how much or how little it takes to destroy a disc.
In one carefully controlled experiment it was determined that CD-Rs behave
differently from pressed CDs when you slam them edge-on against the
ground. The aluminum ones will chip (once you throw them hard enough,
otherwise they just bounce) and create silver confetti. The gold one I
tried chipped and the gold layer started peeling, leaving little gold
flakes everywhere. One user reported that a Verbatim blue CD developed
bubbles even though the plastic was intact. More experimentation is needed
(but not around pets, small children, or hard-to-vacuum carpets).
On a different tack, some CD-Rs don't hold up well when immersed in water.
Try pouring a little water on a disc, then let it sit until it dries. If
the top surface scratches off more easily afterward, you need to be careful
around moisture. Silver/blue Verbatim discs seem particularly sensitive.
One comment about snapping discs in half with your fingers: use caution.
Depending on the disc and how you break it, you may end up with lots of
sharp polycarbonate slivers flying through the air. Wear eye protection,
be aware of people around you, and be sure to clean up all the plastic
shards afterward.
If you have far more coasters than you want to play with, consider
recycling them. You can find a list of recyclers in the FAQ list on
http://www.allthingscdr.com/allthings-cdr/cdrfaq.html#handling.
Subject: [7-10] Where can I find jewel cases and CD sleeves?
(1999/01/02)
There are many vendors. A few are listed below.
Incidentally, you have a lot of choices when it comes to CD packaging.
There are single-disc jewel cases, double-sized doubles, single-sized
doubles, triples, quads, sextuples, plain colors, neon colors, paper
envelopes, Tyvek envelopes, cardboard sleeves, clear jewel cases with black
trays, clear jewel cases with built-in trays, CD pockets for use in
three-ring binders, and on, and on.
If you can imagine it, it's probably up for sale.
Some URLs to start with:
http://www.frontiernet.net/~bags/
http://www.tape.com/cdr.html
http://www.xdr2.com/cd-jewel.htm
http://www.cdroutlet.com/
Subject: [7-11] What's "unbranded" CD-R media?
(1999/03/07)
Simply put, it's a CD-R disc with nothing printed on the top surface. Some
people need "plain" discs that they can print on, or simply like them for
the aesthetic value. There is no difference in quality or capacity.
Subject: [7-12] How do I repair a scratched CD?
(1999/02/14)
If you scratched the top (label) side of a CD-R, and it no longer works,
your disc is toast. (If you scratched it, and it still works, copy the
data off while you still can.)
If you scratched the bottom side, then all you've done is etch the
polycarbonate (plastic), and it can be repaired like any other CD. A common
misconception is that the data is on the bottom, but if you examine
it carefully you will see that the data is beneath the label. The
laser reads the data through the polycarbonate layer, and if the layer
is scratched the laser will refract onto the wrong part of the disc.
For small or radial scratches, the error correction in the CD format will
allow the disc to continue working, but if there's too much disruption
you will get audible glitches or CD-ROM driver errors.
If the disc works some of the time, you can "repair" it by copying it onto
a new CD-R disc. If the disc is always unreadable, or is copy protected,
you will need to repair the disc itself.
One product that may be useful is Wipe Out! (http://www.cdrepair.com/), a
chemical abrasive that allows you to reduce scratches. Another is
Scratch Suppressor from http://www.cdrestore.com/.
The Repair FAQ at http://www.repairfaq.org/ has a section on repairing
scratched CDs. Find the "Compact Disc Players and CDROM Drives" section,
and skip down to 4.10 and 4.11.
Subject: [7-13] What's this about a Canadian CD-R tax?
(1999/02/07)
In the United States, a distinction is made between "consumer digital
audio" media and data media. You have to pay extra for consumer audio CD-R
blanks and DAT tapes, and the music recording industry gets a piece on the
assumption that the media will be used to hold commercially recorded
material.
Canada has gone a step farther, by placing a levy upon *all* media
capable of storing audio. Even the "data" CD-R blanks, which don't work
in consumer audio CD-recordable decks, are subject to the levy.
Some web sites with more information:
http://www.amoconsultants.com/cdr/
http://www.sycorp.com/levy.htm
http://www.tcp.ca/gsb/reviews/storage/cdr-Q199.html
Subject: [7-14] Can I create 80mm (3-inch) CD-singles?
(1999/04/11)
The 80mm CD didn't catch on everywhere. In some markets, notably the USA,
the smaller discs are rarely seen. The 80mm CD-R made a brief appearance,
and then vanished.
It appears that, because of the growing popularity of home CD recorders, a
manufacturer has decided to produce small quantities of 80mm media once
again. Using them may not be as straightforward as could be hoped. Most
software will work just fine, because all CD-Rs have slightly different
capacities, especially when you consider 63-minute, 74-minute, and
80-minute blanks. The problems stem from their physical dimensions.
If you have a caddy-based recorder, you will have a problem: while trays
have two different rings for 80mm and 120mm discs, caddies don't.
According to the Yamaha CDR-102 manual, there is a "Disk Adaptor",
referenced as part #ADP08, that sits in the caddy and keeps the disc
properly positioned. A device that performed a similar function used to be
sold by music stores so that standard players could handle 80mm
CD-singles; it looks like a plastic donut that clips onto the disc.
If you have one of these, great. If you don't, you may have difficulty
finding them. You will likely have even worse luck figuring out how to
play an 80mm disc on a "slot in" CD-ROM drive -- the kind where you push
the disc into a slot, and it slurps it up.
A less common issue with 80mm discs has to do with playback. A loose sheet
included with the CDR-100/102 "CD Expert" manual states:
"An 8-cm disc recorded at normal speed on the CD Expert may not playback
correctly on some manufacturer's CD-ROM drives. This is likely on drives
that have a playback PLL (phase lock loop) bandwidth of 1.5 kHz. Most
drives, however, have a playback PLL bandwidth of 2.5 kHz, in which case
this is not a problem."
The final discouragement for 80mm discs is that they only hold 21 minutes
of audio (about 95250 sectors on Ritek silver-blue discs, or about 186MB),
but at present cost more than their full-sized counterparts. They are an
interesting curiosity, but little more.
[ On a personal note: my Plextor 8/20 refuses to accept any of the discs
from the Ritek batch I bought, but I was able to use them with a Yamaha
CDR-102 and a CD-single caddy adapter. I found the discs at
http://www.cdroutlet.com/; others have used http://www.octave.com/. ]
Subject: [7-15] Where can I find CD-ROM business cards?
(1999/07/18)
You can find CD-ROMs in interesting shapes, including business cards.
These are functional CD-ROMs that are, for example, the same size and shape
as a traditional business card (well, a really thick business card). They
can have your name and contact information printed on the front, and can
hold a modest amount of data, typically about 40MB.
As with 80mm CDs (see section (7-14)), you may have trouble playing these
"discs" on CD-ROM drives that use caddies or have a "slot-in" design.
Some net.vendors:
http://www.cdshapes.com/
http://www.pocketcd.com/
There don't appear to be any vendors selling CD-R media in odd shapes.
Cutting a CD-R disc into a different shape isn't recommended, because the
recording layer tends to delaminate easily once the seal has been broken.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [8] Net Resources and Vendor Lists
(1998/04/06)
Some of these sites have both technical information and product sales;
they're listed twice.
The CD-Info bibliography at http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Bibliography.html
is updated more frequently and will probably be more accurate than this
section. It also has pointers to books, magazines, relevant areas on
commercial online services, and other good stuff.
Subject: [8-1] Information resources
(1999/02/15)
Some useful web pages. Don't forget about the newsgroups, listed in
section (0-5).
http://resource.simplenet.com/
Mike Richter's collection of files and URLs related to CD-R.
http://www.cdpage.com/
Lots of good stuff, including a library of technical articles.
http://www.cd-info.com/
Information about CDs and CD-Rs, especially technology and industry
stuff.
http://www.osta.org/
Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA); see the CD-R Q&A doc.
http://www.sigcat.org/
SIGCAT (Special Interest Group on CD Applications and Technology)
Foundation home page.
http://www.adaptec.com/cdrec/
Lots of useful information on CD-R.
http://www.adaptec.com/support/cdrlist/policies.html
Excerpts from and instructions for joining the Adaptec CD-R mailing
list.
http://www.westnet.com/~gsmith/cdrecord.htm
Some practical advice and experiences with CD-R, including a lengthy
discussion on transferring audio recordings from other sources.
http://www.cinram.com/techlibrary/main.html
Cinram's (was Disc Manufacturing, Inc.'s) technical library. Used
to have more stuff. A few articles remain.
http://www.cdarchive.com/
Lots of information on CDs and CD-Rs.
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/cdrom/faq
Information and FAQs from the alt.cd-rom group.
http://www.araltd.com/whatscdr.html
Product information plus some nifty graphics.
http://www.hsv.tis.net/disc/
Technical info.
http://emf.net/~mal/cdplus.html
Info on CD Plus (a/k/a CD Extra). [ no longer there? ]
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~erick205/Papers/paper.html
Highly technical paper on CDs.
http://www.compulink.co.uk/~xi/hp4020i.htm
Site dedicated to the HP4020i.
http://www.epool.com/mtc/mtc_02.html
Information about CD-R in general and Mitsui Toatsu media in particular.
http://www.octave.com/library.html
A bunch of good stuff.
http://www.octave.com/library/ricoh/cdrhandbook.html
Ricoh's CD Recordable Handbook in HTML form.
http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~psyche/cdda/
Information and links to software for digital audio extraction.
http://music.digidesign.com/html/faqs/faqmlcd.html
FAQ for MasterList CD. Has some interesting notes.
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/6665/jdlnet_jvc_cd-r.html
A collection of information and helpful hints for new users in
general and JVC XR-W2010 users in particular.
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/6893/
Information on CDD2600 and CDD3610 recorders.
http://www.orangeforum.or.jp/english/
The "Orange Forum" web page. (CD-R is "Orange Book".) Very artistic.
http://www.digido.com/
A few articles on various subjects relating to studio-quality audio
recording.
http://www.hrrc.org/
Home Recording Rights Coalition (some good legal stuff).
http://members.xoom.com/cdburning/
CD Burning Paradise.
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~jrao/maccdr/
Macintosh CD-R stuff.
http://www.mscience.com/
The Media Sciences web site; good technical info.
http://plop.phys.cwru.edu/repairfaq/REPAIR/F_cdfaq.html
CD-ROM section of the Repair FAQ (http://www.repairfaq.org/). Lots
of good technical info on CD stuff, as well as how to fix things
when they break.
Subject: [8-2] Magazines and other publications
(1998/07/06)
http://www.emediapro.net/
Home of EMedia Professional, formerly CD-ROM Professional. Some
articles are available online.
http://www.kipinet.com/
Several publications which may be of interest.
http://www.cd-webstore.com/
Home of two online trade publications, "Burning Issues" and "Pressing On".
Subject: [8-3] Net.vendors
(1999/05/09)
NOTE: this should not be considered an endorsement of these vendors. No
attempt has been made to verify the quality of products or service you will
receive. This list is provided as a convenience.
http://www.uvision.com/
Internet bargain hunter.
http://www.pricewatch.com/
Street price search engine.
http://www.cdrom.com/pub/simtelnet/msdos/cdrom/
Freeware and shareware utilities.
http://www.necx.com/
Hardware, software, and media.
http://www.ic-direct.com/
Hardware and media.
http://www.gemmedia.com/
Media.
http://www.com/mediasource/
Hardware and media.
http://www.cdarchive.com/
Hardware and software.
http://www.cddimensions.com/
Media and some high-end hardware like networked CD-R jukeboxes.
http://www.compusa.com/
CompUSA's online catalog. Hardware and media.
http://www.oneoffcd.com/
One-off CDs and CD reproduction; also hardware, software, and media.
http://www.microtech.com/
CD-R duplication hardware and services.
http://www.rimage.com/
CD-R duplication hardware and services.
http://www.superdd.com/
CD replication, specializing in same-day service.
http://www.commercial-illusions.com/
Media and duplication services.
http://www.datares.com/creativet/
Media and hardware.
http://www.araltd.com/ [ dead? ]
Media and hardware.
http://www.inter-look.com/prosource/
Media, hardware, and oft-recommended CD labels.
http://sweb.srmc.com/andys/index.html
Hardware and software.
http://www.cdrmicro.com/
Media and hardware.
http://www.hk.linkage.net/~metro
Hardware, software, and media.
http://www.octave.com/
Hardware and software.
http://www.pasystems.be/
Hardware and media.
http://www.mediasupply.com/
Media.
http://www.computability.com/
Hardware.
http://www.globalcomputersupply.com/
Media.
http://www.cd-recordable.com/
Media.
http://www.cdw.com/
Hardware and media.
http://www.pcconnection.com/
Hardware and media.
http://www.cmpexpress.com/
Hardware and media.
http://www.essential-data.com/
Hardware, software, and media.
http://www.microboards.com/
Hardware, software, and media.
http://www.ynjmicro.com/
Hardware and media.
http://www.americal.com/
Hardware and media.
http://www.blankmedia.com/
Media.
http://www.adaptec.com/products/store/index.html
Adaptec's online store.
http://www.xdr2.com/
Media and jewel cases.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~bags/
Bags Unlimited; carries a remarkable variety of CD envelopes and cases.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [9] Contributors
(1999/07/18)
Most of the information contained in this FAQ was culled from the Usenet
newsgroups comp.publish.cdrom.* and the WWW sites mentioned in the previous
sections.
Please remember that the author is NOT a CD-R expert, so sending him mail
won't get you very far. Please *post* questions to comp.publish.cdrom.*.
The CD-Recordable FAQ was first posted to Usenet on March 2nd, 1996, and
was made available in HTML form on www.cd-info.com on March 24th, 1996.
The current home on www.fadden.com became active May 28th, 1998.
This FAQ was written by:
Andy McFadden fadden*netcom.com
With a great deal of help on the first several drafts from:
Katherine Cochrane katherine*cd-info.com
Hal Rottenberg hal_rottenberg*hp.com
Georges Brown Georges*cdarchive.com
And information and suggestions -- mostly in the form of posts to
comp.publish.cdrom.{hardware,software,multimedia} -- from:
[ Trivial spam-guard in place; change '*' to '@' if you want to send mail. ]
Decius Aiacus decius_aiacus*hotmail.com
Alecto alecto*goulburn.net.au
Pierre-Yves Andri PierreYves.Andri*ping.be
Jeff Arnold jarnold*mainstream.net
Jeff Aspinall aspinall*umich.edu
Mario Diéguez B. hidrosan*entelchile.net
Clive Backham clive*capita.nildram.co.uk
Brian Barth BrianBarth*aol.com
Dave Bayer bayer*bway.net
Alex Bell abell*plasmon.co.uk
Yves Belle-Isle BelY*Sogi.com
Ricardo Martinez Benesenes Ricardo.Martinez-Benesenes*post.rwth...
Dennis Benjamin ocms0001*ermine.ox.ac.uk
Mathieu Besson Mathieu.Besson*hec.unil.ch
Blaine blam1*aol.com
Jim Blietz entexse*interaccess.com
Peter 'Pedro' Blum peter*microtech.com
Patrick Boen patrick.boen*tip.nl
Robert R. Boerner, Jr. bob973*concentric.net
Eric Jan van den Bogaard bogaard*euronet.nl
Axel Booltink ab*comex-sales.com
Michael Borowiec mikebo*Mars.mcs.net
David Bouw bouw*dds.nl
Scott Bracken scott*oneoffcd.com
Sune Bredahl sjn*it-support.dk
Simon Brownlee simon.brownlee*jrc.it
Craig Burgess craigb*microstar-usa.com
Frans de Calonne fdecalonne*elektroson.com
Chris Cant chris*phdcc.com
Mirco Caramori mirco*padus.com
Mark Carde mcarde*nntpq30.bnr.ca
Juan Carlos ackman*emirates.net.ae
Brian D. Chambers bucknife*electriciti.com
Kenneth Chen lore*carabelli.com
Michel Cherbuliez cherbu*cuimail.unige.ch
Andrew Chiang andrewc*seas.ucla.edu
Sean Christy seanchr*hotmail.com
Dave Chung dtchung*vms6.sci.csupomona.edu
Kevin Clark clark*crl.com
Christophe CLERC-RENAUD clerc*ntt.fr
Jef Collin Jef.Collin*tornado.be
Daniel Courville courville.daniel*uqam.ca
Kevin Coyle kmcoyle*ccgate.hac.com
Gary Crosby gacrosby*mail.socomm.net
John Daly jdaly*palmnet.net
datta datta*archive.uwp.edu
Gary Davis gdavis*loop.com
Paul DeFilippo bruttium*hotmail.com
Peter DiCamillo peter*stanley.cis.Brown.EDU
Steven M. Dietz steve*burp.hboc.com
Mike Dijkema m.dijkema*bureau.rug.nl
Kurt Dommermuth kurtz*lanminds.com
Hans Driessen marcomlo.pkm*nl.cis.philips.com
Barry Drodge bdrodge*golden.net
Russell Duffy rad*gulf.net
Mark J. Dulcey mark*ziplink.net
Cydrek Dysan cdysan*zip.com.au.nospam
Lunatic E'Sex Luny*apple.com
Toerless Eckert Toerless.Eckert*Informatik.Uni-Erlan...
Erik Eckhardt erik*netgate.net
Jonathan Edelson winnie*teleport.com
Heiko Eissfeldt heiko*colossus.escape.de
Daniel Elroi audndani*ix.netcom.com
Steve Enzer enzer*mpi.com
Grant Erickson eric0139*itlabs.umn.edu
Martin Evans MARTIN*paladio.demon.co.uk
Voytek Eymont voytek*ibm.net
Frank Feder fwfeder*deltanet.com
Helen Feng wanderer*li.net
Joel Finkle jjfink*skcla.monsanto.com
Joe T. Fountain gorjoe*wenet.net
Emile Gardette egardett*freenet3.scri.fsu.edu
E. Goldberg earl*sky.net
Gerry Goodrich gogood*ibm.net
Colin Gordon gordonc*oldpeter.agw.bt.co.uk
Jac Goudsmit http://www.xs4all.nl/~jacg/dcc-faq.html
Gary E. Grant ggrant*crl.com
grasser grasser*srmc.com
Patrick Green patrick*bbs.fornext.com
Richard Green srcemag*gate.net
Dave Grimes dgrimes*cts.com
Ron Gustavson rongus*tiac.net
Gregory F. Haas gregh*cwnet.com
Joe Hall phroget*xmission.com
Steven Duntley Halpape UserNAme*ix.netcom.com
Russ Harper topquark*niia.net
Chris Harrison c-harry*mindless.com
Matt Hartley hartlw*rpi.edu
Mike Harvey mharvey*cqi.com
Robert Hedges rhhedgz1*ulkyvm.louisville.edu
Marc Herbert Marc.Herbert*bat710.univ-lyon1.fr
Herman Hillebrand hermanh*bio.vu.nl
Anders Holm anders.holm.1965*student.uu.se
Steve Holzworth sch*unx.sas.com
Vincent van't Hoog hoog*zeelandnet.nl
John J. Hook jjh*sprintmail.com
Dan Hopper ku4nf-N0SPAM*N0SPAM.pagesz.net
M. H. mhulden*Helsinki.FI
Malcolm Humes mal*emf.net
Todd R Hustrulid Todd.R.Hustrulid-1*tc.umn.edu
Chris Ice chris.ice*cisco.com
Kristof Indeherberge kristof.indeherberge*skynet.be
Andrea Invernizzi ainvernizzi*tinet.ch
Jadiel jadiel*geocities.com
Patrick Jeski pjeski*mich.com
Harri Johansson harri.johansson*hpy.fi
Curt Johnson cjohnson*dbtech.net
Arnold Jones arnold*mdi.com
HK hk*mindless.com
Tapio Keihanen dio*snakemail.hut.fi
Roger A. Kendall kendall*ucla.edu
Steve Kennedy prografx*teleport.com
Roger Kirk rkirk*videoserver.com
Richard Kiss richard*homemail.com
Peter van Klaveren Peter.van.Klaveren*cmg.nl
Lyle Knox laknox*asu.uswest.net
Jerry Kohoutek jerryk*rmii.com
Adrie Koolen adrie*ica.philips.nl
Steven A. Kortze skortze*erols.com
Alexander S. Kosiorek alex_audio*interramp.com
James Krainock jamesk*microboards.com
Bernard Lang lang*calva.inria.fr
Greg Legowski gregleg*telerama.lm.com
Lemarcha lemarcha*plg.u-nancy.fr
J. Russell Lemon Lemon.J.Russell*worldnet.att.net
Barry Libenson barryl*visix.com
Marc van Lierop marcvl*freemail.nl
Wee-Keong LIM keong*deepdene.ecr.mu.oz.au
Linda linda*htp.net
George Lindholm lindholm*ucs.ubc.ca
Mike Linhart mlinhart*rsl.ukans.edu
Torbjörn Lindgren tl*funcom.com
Chris HP Lovecraft tmservo*ksu.ksu.edu
nelson luc nelson_luc*isd.toshiba.com.au
Jean-Paul Maas jmaa*ictlux.com
Nathan Manlove nate*ai2a.net
Markie markie#the*the*-castle.com
Bob Martin rtm*netgate.net
John Marvin jsm*fc.hp.com
Jean-Francois Masse jfmasse*teaser.fr
Jonathan Austin Maton jmaton*unf.edu
Mats mats*gmx.net
Anthony McCarthy anthony*xi.compulink.co.uk
Doug McFadyen dmcfadye*kea.bc.ca
Dawn Messerly dawn#_*_.com
Michel Milano mmilano*tiac.net
Gene Miller gmiller*vnet.ibm.com
Mikrichter mikrichter*interramp.com
Hans Mons Hans.Mons*iaehv.nl
Ken Moss kmoss*surfnthe.net
F.Mouta fernando.mouta*mail.telepac.pt
Brian Mullen mullen*hurricane.net2.nlu.edu
John Navas JNavas*NavasGrp.Dublin.CA.US
Paul Newson ienewson*netcom.ca
Niderost, B.U. niderost*fys.ruu.nl
Lou Nigro buster*hiheels.com
Jon nobody nobody*nowhere.net
Nick Norton Nick*swint.demon.co.uk
Jonathan Oei joei*mindspring.com
David Oseas doseas*usa.net
palomaki palomaki*erols.com
Dana Parker danapark*ix.netcom.com
Jeff Pearson lumpofcoal*aol.com
Reto A. Pergher dzkrper*shinbiro.com
Chris Petersen cpeterse*unix.SRI.COM
Matthias Petofalvi mpetofal*vub.ac.be
Jason Petrait petrait*u.washington.edu
Dave Platt dplatt*nc.com
Jaap v.d. Pol jaap.van.de.pol*tip.nl
Kevin Purdy kpurdy*voicenet.com
Frank Racis racis*voicenet.com
Paul Reeves reeves*guy.asimware.com
Phillip A. Remaker remaker*cisco.com
Rick Richardson rick*dgii.com
Mike Richter mrichter*mindspring.com
Jim Riggs jriggs*verbatimcorp.com
Stephanie Roberson Thursday*kimbanet.com
Robert Rolf Robert.Rolf*UAlberta.ca
Danny Roos mayday*dataweb.nl
Meelis Roos mroos*ut.ee
Tonko de Rooy tderooy*raleigh.ibm.com
Paul Rubin phr*netcom.com
Michael Rubin mickster*li.net
Road Runner rmiller2*columbus.rr.com
Torsten Sander ints*sun.rz.tu-clausthal.de
Nick Sayer nsayer*quack.kfu.com
John Schlichther jschlic1*mnsi.net
Angela Schmidt Angela.Schmidt*stud.uni-karlsruhe.de
Jörg Schilling schilling*fokus.gmd.de
Bertel Schmitt bschmitt*panix.com
Barbara Severance digihorse*earthlink.net
Chris Severance severach*jacksonmi.com
Jason Shannon Jason.Shannon*digitivity.com
Guy Shavitt guy-s*usa.net
Shawn shawnl*jax.jaxnet.com
Brett Sherris bsherris*li.net
Aron Siegel vinylm*hotmail.com
J. Robert Sims, III robsims*hootie.lvld.hp.com
Bart Smith BartSmith*msn.com
Eric Smith eric*brouhaha.com
Greg Smith gsmith*westnet.com
Tim Smith tzs*coho.halcyon.com
John Smyth xy3*usa.net
Guy G. Sotomayor, Jr. ggs*idiom.com
Dave Souza souza*corpsys.com
Spalding spalding*unforgettable.com
Ziv Speiser xor*main.aquanet.co.il
Jeff and Mary Spencer spencer*rollanet.org
Startide startide*earthling.net
Don Sterner dsterner1*yahoo.com
Jon Stewart jstewart*nomadics.com
Deirdre' Straughan deirdre_straughan*corp.adaptec.com
Kees Stravers pb0aia*iaehv.nl
Gregg Strawbridge audubon*felix.teclink.net
Jan Strous jan*strous.demon.nl
Ron Stuurman rons*bart.nl
Sybren S.J.Hettinga*lr.tudelft.nl
Johann Taucher Johann.Taucher*uibk.ac.at
Thomas Tempelmann thomas_tempelmann*corp.adaptec.com
Paula Terrell paula*cdr1.com
John Tessier support*trillium.adaptec.com
tethys tethys*ml.com
Gregory Theulings marcomlo.pkm*nl.cis.philips.com
Kevin Patrick Thibedeau thibedek*wpi.edu
Lorin Thwaits lthwaits*aol.com
Hock Toh transx*pc.jaring.my
Martin Trautmann traut*th-darmstadt.de
tRIs sis5264*sis.port.ac.uk
Tung Cheng Tsai thlx*mail.ncku.edu.tw
Louis Tumbao tumbao*usa.pipeline.com
Dave Ulmer david_ulmer*corp.adaptec.com
Rich Unger rbu1*cec.wustl.edu
Doug V. dutchman*centuryinter.net
S Valdez svaldez*icogsci1.ucsd.edu
Chris Valentine c.p.valentine*open.ac.uk
Vo, Charles H. st3wr*rosie.uh.edu
Greg Volk gvolk*umr.edu
Gilles Vollant 100144.2636*compuserve.com
Jon Wadelton eden*c031.aone.net.au
Andreas Walfort andreas.walfort*kassel.netsurf.de
Michael Walker mwalker*cybernex.net
Mark Warbington markoni*mindspring.com
Gerald E. Weber geweber*hiwaay.net
Lauren Weinstein lauren*vortex.com
Jerome H. Whelan whelanj*oasys.dt.navy.mil
Royce White rwhite*datadisc.com
Nic Wilson nicw*powerup.com.au
Julien Wolf Julien.Wolf*mb3.tu-chemnitz.de
Klaus Woltereck kw42*gmx.net
Roy Worthington royw*octave.com
Joachim Worringen zdv181*zam176.zam.KFA-Juelich.de
Yvon yvonus*bigfoot.com
Gero Zahn gero*uni-paderborn.de
Oliver Zechlin oliver.zechlin*erl9.siemens.de
Zohar Ziv zziv*actcom.co.il
OSTA CD-R Q&A http://www.osta.org/
My humble apologies to anyone I've omitted. ++ATM 19990718
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